It wasn't for effect, but Pratt had his arms folded, just like the Man of Steel himself. Only a sophomore, Pratt might as well have been a superhero in what turned out to be the biggest game of his life.

Pratt's four sacks highlighted Pine Bush's bounce-back effort, a week after the Bushmen were shocked by Warwick, 52-26. Dylan Eller rushed for 182 yards and three touchdowns for Pine Bush (3-1, 1-0 Class AA) and the defense held Middletown to 117 yards of offense.

"I just like the Superman shirt," said Pratt, who is 6-foot-4, 235 pounds. "Cam Newton wears it. It hypes him up and I started doing it. I like it. It worked for me tonight. It was just a great game for the entire team."

Several Pine Bush players admitted entering the Middletown game peeved. Most fans expected Pine Bush to take out Warwick, coming off a 33-0 loss to Monroe-Woodbury, last week. Instead, Warwick put up a 52-spot on Pine Bush, which turned the ball over six times.

The Bushmen allowed 69 points during the regular season last year. Meanwhile, Warwick quarterback Brad Garcia rushed for 345 yards and five touchdowns. Pine Bush, the defending Section 9 Class AA champion, had entered the game allowing -28 rushing yards.

"We were mad this week," Pine Bush defensive end Scott Flanick said. "But nobody was hanging their heads. We came into practice with a full head of steam and knew what we had to do. We had to get after it and we put a hurtin' on Middletown. We knew we had to reestablish ourselves. We did that."

Still, Middletown (2-2, 0-1 Class AA) didn't just roll over. Pine Bush only led 14-0 at halftime on a 5-yard touchdown run by Eller and a 30-yard touchdown from Dan McNamara to Artie Econom. However, the Bushmen, who had nine sacks, wore Middletown down in the second half.

Eller made it 21-0 on a 9-yard run with 4:55 left in the third quarter and added a 33-yard score 1:10 into the fourth to run the margin to 28-0. Jon Lindau scored on a 60-yard fumble recovery in the fateful fourth and reserve running back Donovan Mayer put up a 10-yard rushing touchdown. Mike Martin rushed for 122 yards for Pine Bush and Brandon Nugent passed for 131 yards for Middletown.

Pine Bush plays at Kingston on Friday in a Class AA Division I game, before taking on divisional rivals Newburgh and Monroe-Woodbury in consecutive weeks.

"We always have to send a messager when we play," Eller said. "Since we let our guard down last week, I feel we had to come out and put away another team. We weren't mad, we were just motivated. We are self-motivated and we are motivated by other people, too. So when we get a full head of steam, look out."